On Power

by William Shakespeare

These are Shakespeare's greatest writings on power in all its forms - in love, in war, in politics and in the family. From Macbeth's vaulting ambition to Richard II's fragile grip on authority, from the violent rivalries of King Lear to the exquisite poetry of the love sonnets, these pieces show, with philosophical subtlety and psychological acuity, how we manipulate and dominate each other.

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

Genres: Philosophy, Fiction, Poetry, Classics, Renaissance, Drama

148 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[Alan]

I wasn't sure if this book deserved one or two stars, but after giving it some thought, I've decided to give it my one star rating of "avoid this garbage-waste-of-time at all costs". I'm not really sure what the publishers of this compilation were thinking when they put this into print (probably: "its Shakespeare, it has to sell"). The decision to throw in chunks of random passages from Shakespeare's works without context or explanation is simply baffling. As it is, a good portion of the passages which were used in this text have very little or nothing to do with "power", if only in the broadest of senses. I don't know what to say. This is arguably the most pitiful publishing and editorial work I have ever seen. The only good news is it's Shakespeare, so, every now and then you'll enjoy something (if you can decipher where it's from).

[Steve Mitchell]

The rating that I have given this book in no way represents my opinion of Shakespeare’s writing ability. Even if Shakespeare did not actually write the plays – I believe Christopher Marlowe is the current candidate that the conspiracy theorists nominate – whoever wrote them was an absolute genius and I still plump for The Bard of Avon. However, all plays are meant to be performed rather than read; and selecting the best passages from those plays and turning them into a book for Penguin’s Great Ideas series is a waste of a good book. It is for that reason that I have given this book such a low rating; it is a lazy way of ensuring that Shakespeare made it into the hundred books of the series at the expense of a collection of essays or theses of which there are plenty. A passage from Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks would have been a far better choice for a start!

[Mavi]

De costosa lectura ya que extrae fragmentos de las obras de Shakespeare y los coloca agrupados por temas. Al saltar de una obra a otra y cambiar los personajes y el contexto, dificulta aún más comprender el lenguaje del autor.

[Lonely Panda]

I really love Shakespeare but I thought that reading snippets of the play without the play as a whole is irrelevant. Especially if you are targeting the issue of power, you need to see the characters evolve together.

[Ana]

I you're new to Shakespeare, don't read this book. It's made up of the parts of sonnets that refer to power in government, in the family, in war and violence, in love, between men and women, but it doesn't give you any context. Having read most of Shakespeare, I had no problem enjoying this collection and I think that if you don't mind getting a little confused, you can enjoy the beautiful poetry, but that's up to you.

[Rosa Castañeda]

Al inicio es complicado adaptarse al concepto de fragmentos pero todos se hilan muy bien al entender el poder en sus distintas expresiones. Sin duda el de la guerra es el mejor y hay algunas joyas en el del amor.

[امیرمحمد]

گردآوردیِ بسیار جذابی بود.

[Michael David]

It’s hard to appreciate the context of the excerpts, but these are, after all, passages of Shakespeare, so there are occasional statements of incredible beauty.

[aaron trowbridge]

The top ratings on this little book, I believe, were a little unfair. I got a lot out of a broad selection of excerpts from the works of Shakespeare, some of which I wasn't yet aware of. It has whetted my appetite for more.

[Eduardo Ocampo]

Buscando un lugar dónde comenzar a leer a Shakespeate encontré esta pequeña recopilación. Me ayudó a engancharme con él y ahora quiero leer una obra completa suya.

En cuanto a la temática de la recopilación (el poder) me gustó mucho pero a la vez me sorprendió la forma de Shakespeare de entender el poder. El deseo del poder es inherente al ser humano desde que decidimos probar el fruto prohibido. Y creo que esa es la tónica del ser humano, el poder como un deseo egoísta de tener control de todo y, en particular de nuestros congéneres, es uno de los vicios más adictivos. Shakespeare lo describió de la forma más hermosa que haya leído, aún así me asombra los extremos a los que puede llegar el ser humano al ejercer el poder.